Railroad rail and process of making same



1946. H. s. GEORGE RAILROAD RAIL AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME Filed June 9, 1944 INVENTOR H IEEY 51 62 0665 07/0744 A 1 TO R7NY5 Patented Nov. 19, 1946 RAILROAD RAIL AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME Harry S. George, Massapequa, N. Y. Application June 9, 1944, Serial No. 539,455

This invention relates to railroad rail and in" particular to the making of the rail from theingot. Its principal object is to provide a rail having a lower manufacturing cost and longer life than have characterized rail heretofore produced.

It comprises hot cutting the ingot through its longitudinal axis, by means hereinafter defined, and rolling the resulting segments to the shape of a rail With suitable orientation of the segments with respect to the rail shape, to produce a rail the head of which is composed solely of metal from the outer part of the ingot, the core metal being located in the remaining portions of the rail section. By producing a rail of which the head is composed only of the outer part of the ingot I produce an improved rail, having a. head composed of more uniform composition and free from the segregations, both of metallic and nonment of such failures. But the fact that only certain heats of rail have been subject to such failures, initiated in the center of the head, proves conclusively that such controlled cooling is merely preventive, and that the fundamental cause or origin of such head failures is not internal stress within the head but that the cause lies elsewhere, within the steel itself.

The present invention derives from my conclusions, referred to in part above, that failures originating at or near the center of the rail head, occur because of conditions inherent in the material constituting the axia1 or core portion of certain ingots, and that these conditions are inoperative or harmless when such core material is located elsewhere than in the rail head.

The increased concentration of certain of the metallic constituents found in the axial core of the ingot are not detrimental when located in the web and base of the rail, and, since internally initiated failures rarely if ever occur in the web or base, it is decidedly advantageous from the standpoint of quality as well as economy to utiliz in the rail all of the actually sound metal from the axial core of the ingot, rather than to discard the same and product a rail all of Whose parts are composed only of metal from the outer part of the ingot.

The head of a modern railroad rail which is adapted to carry modern, heavy locomotive wheel 5 Claims. (Cl. 8066) loads, such rail being of the type known as T-rail, is subjected to as severe service, probably, as any metal article. It is required to withstand, often simultaneously, repeated impact, repeated alternating bending, abrasion, and the forces due to temperature changes.

Not only is the T-rail severely stressed in service, but it is severely stressed in the formingprocess and subsequent cooling, duechiefly to its composition, shape and dimensions. Differential rates of cooling between the inner and outerzones of the head, and between the head and the web, produce internal stresses in the head of the T-rail which are highly objectionable and often predis pose to failure when the head is composed of material from the core of the ingot but which have no adverse affect upon metal from the outerpart of the ingot.

Metal, including steel, solidifies in the ingot the axial core of the ingot, by hot cutting the ingot lengthwise, through its axis, into two or more segments, and subsequently orienting thesegments with relation to the rail shaping rolls, so that the rail shall contain metal from the outer part only of the ingot while the web and base contain the core metal of the ingot, as hereinafter explained. In thisinvention the segmentation is preferably accomplished substantially throughout the length of the ingot, by the oxygen cutting process while theingot is still hot, this being onev form of hot cutting.

For the purposes of this specificationI define hot cutting and distinguish it from other methods of severing, such as those which employ plastic deformation, as follows: hot cutting comprises re movin metal, while hot, by melting or oxidation, or erosion or abrasion, or by any-combination thereof, in a relatively thin zone extending through the object such as an ingot.wIt is distinguished from severing by other'means, such as by plastic deformation, in that metal is removed and/or consumed in the operation of hot cutting, Whereas plastic deformationdoesnot depend on such removal for the accomplishment of severing.

Examples of hot cutting which I may employ are the oxygen cutting process, or the hot saw, either alone or together, that is, simultaneously, or

. in steps, partly by oxygen cutting and partly by I am aware that it has been proposed to sever ingots but I am not aware of any proposed method for doing so that does not involve as much or more plastic deformation than the blooming operation, and substantial wastage of ingot metal. Nor, so far as I know, has it been proposed to eliminate the axial core ingot metal from the head of rail for any unusual or specific purpose, including-the elimination of susceptibility to internalhead failures, nor to eliminate ingot core metal from the head while retaining substantially all of the core metal in other portions of the rail.

When considering methods of making and shaping rail, the economic feasibility of any particular operation probably is of greater importance perhaps than it is in the manufacture of anyother article.

Previous suggestions for severing ingots have been made for the purpose of subsequently discarding substantial portions of. the axial or core part of the ingot, where the latter has been obviously porous. and defective. materialhowever, is not present in modern rail steel ingots except in rare and accidental cases, the porous and obviously defective portion being eliminated by concentrating it near the extreme .top of the ingot from which it is discarded by them to the dimensions required b the shaping means. The rough surface of the pipe when exposed by the longitudinal cuts can be smoothed with the oxygen jet, thus making it possible to utilize a greater length of the ingot than heretofore. I f

The initial hot working of the ingot on-the blooming mill'is subject to the hazards of faulty practices such as, (1) failure to crop enough from the top of the ingot, and (2) rolling before the centralzone'has cooled sufficiently, thereby producing intern-a1 ruptures, or heat cracks. The latter fault-is especially dangerous in the case of rail steel because of the high carbon content; infact; heat cracks due to shrinkage alone are not infrequent inrailsteels, and occur almost exclusively in the central zone. -The present invention,'=by exposing the central zone, effectually Such defective When practicing the invention by means of the oxygen-cutting process, cropping may be accomplished at the same time and by the same the rail. softens the metal necessarily shortens its life.

4 the center of the head down through the web to about the center of the base or lower flange. The location of the core can be determined at any stage of the operations by analysis and by chemical methods, as by etching the suitably prepared cross-section of the article.

. Recent innovations in the manufacture of rails, comprising heat treatments following rolling, not only add to the cost but result in a softening of Any'process such as mentioned which The present invention, by improving the quality of the metal, and by other means, obviates the use of costly remedial heat treatments, thereby retaining the natural hardness of the rail, and prolonging its life.

'The objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawing and the com- .plete descriptions which follow.

, rolling the ingot of Fig. 1. 'The interior, broken prevents the above harmful practices, and makes the blooming operation is high, amounting to a substantial part of the total manufacturing cost.

Formerly, the axial core of the ingot was necessarily located along the longitudinal axis of the rail, and-extended, in the rail section, from about line indicates the manner in whichlthe core .of

. the'ingo t is disposed in the rail by former methods of shaping by plastic deformation; 1 i

Fig. 3 represents thesection of an ingot severed by one but, according to the invention, and shows how the core 2 is placed thereby on the outside of the resulting segments;

Fig. 4 represents a T-rail section rolled from a longitudinal segment, of Fig. 3, and shows how the core 2 is located in the base of the rail and lower part of the web, the head of the rail being composed of the more homogeneous outer part, only, of the ingot;

Fig. 5 represents the section of a rail steel ingot, severed by three cuts, as by again severing each of the segments shown in Fig. 3; a

, Fig. 6 shows the rail section resulting from rolling the segment of. Fig. 5, and shows how the core 2 is located in, and confined to, one side of the base of the rail;

Fig. 7 shows one of the segmentsof Fig. 5, from which the corner containing the defective core material near the top of the ingot has been removed;

Fig. 8 shows a rail section, as-rolled from the upper end portion of the segment of Fig. 7, the illustrated portion of the rail being of substantial- 1y uniform composition and containing relatively little of the axial core metal of the ingot, asubstantial part of the core metalhaving been removed becauseof excessive pipe cavities;

Fig.9 repreesnts .a section of a rectangular bloom rolledfrom an ingot; Y

Fig. 10 shows how the bloom of Fig. 9 is segmented; and. 1

Fig. 11 shows a side view of a cropped ingoti3 in a horizontal position.

The simplest procedure for practicing the segmentation process, and sometimes, but not usually, the one preferred, is illustrated by Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, Le, severing the ingot by one cut, and forming each segment into the finished article:

The procedure usually preferred, both from the standpoint of cost and quality, is illustrated by Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 (or Fig. 8), i. e., severing the ingot into four segments, thus savin most of the cost of blooming, at the same time exposing the core 2 of the ingot, on the corners of the segments, from whence a desired portion of it may easily be removed without unnecessary waste, as shown in Fig. '7, as for example by the oxygencutting or deseaming process.

The ingot may be partly reduced, in sectional dimension, by plastic deformation, for example, as shown in Fig. 9; then it may be severed, for example, as shown in Fig. 10, and subsequently either again severed and finished, or immediately rolled to the finished article.

The term ingot as used herein is intended to comprehend an ingot either in an origina1 or reduced state.

The following concrete examples will serve to illustrate the above procedures:

A rail steel ingot, 25 by 25 inches in cross-section (see Fig. 1), may be cut longitudinally into two segments, each about 12 by 25 inches in cross-section (see Fig. 3) each of these segments may then be cut in the same way to produce a total of four segments, each about 12 by 12 inches in cross-section (see Fig. 5); each segment may then be rolled on the blooming mill to the customary 9 /2 by 9 /2 inch bloom, when it is ready for shaping to a rail section such as shown in Fig. 6 (taking care to properly orient it, as described), in which the core of the ingot is confined to the base of the rail. Or, optionally, after the first segmentation, the two segments may each be rolled to a 9 /2 by 9 /2 inch bloom, and then, with proper orientation, to a rail section, as shown in Fig. 4, in which the head is free of core metal.

Or, as another example, the ingot may be rolled into a bloom about 20 by 9% inchesin section (see Fig. 9), and then out as described into two segments, each about 9 /2 by 9 inches in section (see Fig. 10) These segments may be rolled, with proper orientation, to rail sections corresponding to that shown in Fig. 4. In all cases, care must be taken in feeding the segments and the bloomed segments to the rail mills to orient them properly so that the side containing the core will be the base of the rail, and so that the head will contain only metal from the outer part of the ingot.

Two independent means of severing, oxygencutting and hot sawing, may be used in combination. The saw is used to out only through the top of the ingot containing any possibly uncropped portion of the pipe cavity. The oxygen method of cutting is in common use and needs no special explanation in the present connection. Difliculty may be encountered in cutting through cavities such as ingot pipe which may require reversing the ingot and cutting from the opposite direction, if a through out is prevented by the pipe. It is well adapted for smoothing the exposed pipe surfaces and for removing any defective material from the corners of the segments.

The saving in the cost of the reduction of the ingot to the size required for entering the rail shaping rolls, and the saving in ingot wastage, contribute to the production of the improved rail at a cost substantially below that of present-day standard rail.

It is obvious an ingot may be so dimensioned in relation to the weight and length of finished rail desired, that the production of odd lengths can be restricted to a minimum. At the same time the cross sectional dimensions of the ingot should be chosen from the standpoint of reducing to a minimum the amount of blooming required to produce a size and shape suitable for the rail shaping rolls.

I claim:

, l. A method of making railroad rail having a T-section, comprising segmenting the rail steel ingot longitudinally substantially throughout its longitudinal axial zone by oxygen cutting, and subsequently rolling each segment to form rail, while maintaining an orientation of each segment to cause the core metal of the ingot to be located principally in the base of the rail, and to cause the head of the rail to contain only metal derived from the outer part of theingot surrounding the axial zone.

2. A method of making railroad rail having a T-section, comprising segmenting the rail steel ingot longitudinally substantially throughout its longitudinal axial zone by hot sawing, and subsequently rolling each segment to form rail, while maintaining an orientation of each segment to cause the core metal of the ingot to be located principally in the base of the rail, and to cause the head of the rail to contain only metal derived from the outer part of the ingot surrounding the axial zone.

3. A method of making railroad rail having a T-section, comprising, independent of sequence, the step of partially segmenting the rail. steel ingot longitudinally through its longitudinal axial zone by oxygen cutting, substantially throughout that portion of its length which does not contain the pipe cavity, and the complementary step of segmenting of the ingot through its longitudinal axial zone by hot sawing throughout the remainder of the length of the ingot, and subsequently rolling each segment to form rail, while maintaining an orientation of each segment to cause the core metal of the ingot to be located principally in the base of the rail, and to cause the head of the rail to contain only metal derived from the outer part of the ingot surrounding the axial zone.

4. A method of making railroad rail .having a T-section, comprising, independent of sequence, the step of partially segmenting the rail steel ingot longitudinally through its longitudinal axial zone by oxygen cutting, substantially throughout that portion of its length which does not contain the pipe cavity, and the complementary step of segmenting of the ingot through its longitudinal axial zone by hot sawing throughout the remainder of the length of the ingot, hot cutting each segment in half longitudinally to divide it into minor segments, and subsequently rolling each minor segment to form rail, while maintaining an orientation of each minor segment to cause the core metal of the ingot to be located principally in the base of the rail, and to cause the head of the rail to contain only metal derived from the outer part of the ingot surrounding the axial zone.

5. The method of segmenting a steel ingot which comprises, independent of sequence, the step of segmenting the ingot by oxygen cutting through its longitudinal axial zone substantially throughout that portion of its length which does not contain the pipe cavity, and the step of segmenting the ingot by hot sawing through its longitudinal axial zone throughout substantially that portion of its length which does contain the pipe cavity.

HARRY S. GEORGE. 

